OC Man Convicted of Posing as Girl on Myspace to Meet Victims Near the Pass

An Orange County was convicted of 79 felonies and one misdemeanor Wednesday of exploitation and making sexual contact with underage girls he met through Myspace, a Riverside County prosecutors' spokesman said.

Joshua David Threlkeld, 34, is accused of crimes that include posing on the social media website as a 13-year-old girl, as well as meeting victims in Palm Springs and San Jacinto, on both ends of the San Gorgonio Pass.

"The residence in Palm Springs belonged to an associate who apparently did not know what was going on there," Deputy District Attorney Hunter Taylor said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon.

"The location in San Jacinto was also a residence," Taylor said. "The in-person contacts, he would often pick them up in the Riverside, Moreno Valley area. They were from that general area."

Threlkeld also took victims to his home in Orange, prosecutors said.

Threlkeld faces life in prison and his sentencing is scheduled April 11 before Judge Edward Webster in Riverside, according to the District Attorney's Office.

A Riverside County jury heard testimony from 41 victims during the trial and deliberated more than two days to render their verdict.

The crimes occurred between August 2007 and early 2009 and involved victims ages 11 to 17 in Southern California as well as victims from the East Coast, a prosecutors' spokesman said.

"Threlkeld often began his scheme to find underage victims by posing on Myspace as a 13-year-old girl named 'Sara' who told the girls she was a model," a District Attorney's Office statement said. "Threlkeld would then solicit underage girls from across the country to send him nude photos via the Internet."

Threlkeld was also convicted of kidnapping a minor for lewd acts because he took a 13-year-old victim to a home in Palm Springs belonging to one of his friends - supposedly for a photo shoot - but instead he sexually assaulted the girl, a prosecutors' spokesman said.

"Other times, Threlkeld met underage girls via the Internet and took them either to his home in Orange or to another location in San Jacinto where he took nude photos of the victims," a District Attorney's Office statement said.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Melissa Moore and Taylor.

Threlkeld remained in custody Wednesday, according to inmate records. His holding location was listed as Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside. His bail was $1 million.